30 drivers charged under new DWI law

Updated 11:50 pm, Tuesday, September 6, 2011

At least 30 drivers in Bexar County have been charged under a new law that doubles the maximum penalty for registering a blood alcohol level of nearly twice the legal limit.

Under the enhanced law that took effect Thursday, first-time offenders who have a blood alcohol content of 0.15 or higher will be charged with a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $4,000.

Previously, the offense was a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $2,000. The legal limit for blood-alcohol content of 0.08.

Brian Michael Giles, 29, became the first person charged locally under the new law. He was arrested by San Antonio police moments after the new law took effect.

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According to Bexar County jail records as of early Tuesday afternoon, 30 people had been charged as first-time offenders with driving under the influence with a 0.15 blood alcohol content or higher. Because of processing times at the jail, it is possible that more had been arrested.

“Just because the penalties are stiffer, we're not going to change the way we enforce the law,” Police Department spokesman Matthew Porter said. “If you're out there caught drinking and driving, you will go to jail.”

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“We took a more serious approach for people who are clearly not social drinkers,” Martinez Fischer said. “Sending these people to court and giving them probation and other alternatives doesn't solve the issue.”

Bexar County also has a “no refusal” policy on weekends, which means drunken-driving suspects who refuse to blow into a device to test blood alcohol levels could have their blood drawn. The initiative was put in place and expanded this year by District Attorney Susan Reed.

Her office arranges for nurses to be available to draw blood from drunken-driving suspects who refuse breath tests, including misdemeanor cases that don't involve injuries, if an officer obtains a search warrant.

Reed, who first implemented occasional “no refusal” initiatives in 2008, secured law enforcement cooperation to expand the practice this year to every weekend. She has said she'd like to make it a daily routine.